2021 -- S 0259 AS AMENDED | |
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LC001422 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- AIRPORTS AND LANDING FIELDS | |
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Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, and Seveney | |
Date Introduced: February 10, 2021 | |
Referred To: Senate Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Sections 1-2-3 and 1-2-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 1-2 entitled |
2 | "Airports and Landing Fields" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 1-2-3. Acquisition of land. |
4 | (a) The department of transportation may, with the approval of the governor, and subject |
5 | to the provisions of chapter 6 of title 37, acquire, by purchase or condemnation, any land or any |
6 | estate or interest in land, including airspace within this state that it may deem necessary for a |
7 | suitable airport or landing field, or to preserve, maintain, or restore an approach, but in no event |
8 | shall the department obligate the state in excess of the sums appropriated for that purpose. No land |
9 | or estate in this state owned and used by any railroad company shall be taken by condemnation |
10 | under this chapter until after a hearing before the public utilities administrator of this state and until |
11 | the consent of the public utilities administrator to the taking is given. |
12 | (b) No airport, landing field, or any runway or approach zone shall be enlarged or extended |
13 | in any city or town unless the assistant director for airports, or his or her successor or other person |
14 | or officer exercising his or her functions, filed in the office of the city or town clerk of the city or |
15 | town in which the expansion is proposed a plan drawn to scale showing the existing airport and |
16 | runways, which must have been included in the federal aviation administration approved master |
17 | plan documents; the planned extensions or lengthening of the existing runways; any and all public |
18 | highways crossed by the extensions; and lots and parcels of land within a one-mile distance of the |
19 | proposed extensions; together with a delineation of any approach zone required by the extension |
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1 | and an identification of every parcel of land that requiring a taking in order to accomplish the |
2 | extension together with a brief statement describing the work to be undertaken in extending the |
3 | runway. The plan and statement shall be filed at least twelve (12) months before any physical |
4 | construction work begins on any extension of runway or airport expansion. |
5 | (c) The assistant director for airports shall also, at the time plans are filed with the clerk, |
6 | file a notice in a newspaper having general circulation in the city and town setting forth that the |
7 | plan has been filed in the office of the city or town clerk and giving notice to the residents of the |
8 | city or town of the proposed runway extension or airport expansion. |
9 | (d) The plan and statement shall be open to public inspection in the office of the city or |
10 | town. A public hearing shall be held in the city or town at least six (6) months prior to any |
11 | construction on the proposed runway or airport expansion by the assistant director at the time and |
12 | place in the city or town set forth in the notice referred to in subsection (c). |
13 | (e) The governor has the authority in any emergency declared by him or her to authorize |
14 | the enlargement or extension of any runway notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter. |
15 | 1-2-3.1. Airport, landing field, and runway defined. Airport, landing field, runway, |
16 | and approach defined. |
17 | As used in this chapter: |
18 | (1) "Airport" or "landing field" means any area of land designed and set aside for the |
19 | approach, landing and taking off of aircraft and utilized or to be utilized in the interest of the public |
20 | for those purposes. An airport is publicly owned if the portion used for the landing and taking off |
21 | of aircraft is owned, operated, controlled, leased to or leased by the United States, or any agency |
22 | or department of the United States, this state or any other state or any municipality or other political |
23 | subdivision of this state, or any other state, or any other governmental body, public agency or other |
24 | public corporation. |
25 | (2) "Approach, approach zone, approaches" means any airport land, airspace and surfaces |
26 | as set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration and Code of Federal Regulations in Title 14 |
27 | Code of Federal Regulations Part 77- Safe, Efficient Use, and Preservation of the Navigable |
28 | Airspace. |
29 | (2)(3) "Runway" means that portion of an airport or landing field designed or set aside for |
30 | use by aircraft in landing, taking off, or taxiing or moving of aircraft on the ground. A runway shall |
31 | be construed to include any projection or extension for use as an approach zone, and approaches as |
32 | set forth in § 1-3-7. |
33 | SECTION 2. Sections 1-3-2 and 1-3-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 1-3 entitled "Airport |
34 | Zoning" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
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1 | 1-3-2. Definitions. |
2 | As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: |
3 | (1) "Airport" means any area of land or water, or both, designed and set aside for the |
4 | approach, landing and taking off of aircraft and utilized or to be utilized in the interest of the public |
5 | for those purposes. An airport is "publicly owned" if the portion used for the landing and taking off |
6 | of aircraft is owned, operated, controlled, leased to or leased by the United States, or any agency |
7 | or department of the United States, this state, or any other state, or any municipality or other |
8 | political subdivision of this state, or any other state, or any other governmental body, public agency |
9 | or other public corporation. |
10 | (2) "Airport corporation" means the Rhode Island airport corporation. |
11 | (3) "Airport hazard" means any electronic transmission device or structure, which, as |
12 | determined by the federal aviation administration, interferes with radio communication between |
13 | airport and aircraft approaching or leaving the airport, or any structure or tree or use of land which |
14 | obstructs the airspace required for the flight of aircraft in landing or taking off at any airport or is |
15 | otherwise hazardous to the landing or taking off of aircraft. |
16 | (4) "Airport hazard area" means any area of land or water upon which an airport hazard |
17 | might be established if not prevented as provided in this chapter. |
18 | (5) "Obstruction" means any tangible, inanimate physical object, natural or artificial, |
19 | protruding above the surface of the ground. |
20 | (6) "Person" means any individual, firm, co-partnership, corporation, company, |
21 | association, joint stock association, or body politic, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or |
22 | other similar representative. |
23 | (7) "Political subdivision" means any city or town or any other public corporation, authority |
24 | or district, department, or any combination of two (2) or more, which is currently empowered to |
25 | adopt, administer and enforce municipal zoning regulations or to purchase or condemn pursuant to |
26 | § 1-2-3. |
27 | (8) "Structure" means any object constructed or installed by humans, including, but without |
28 | limitation, buildings, towers, smokestacks, and overhead transmission lines, including the poles or |
29 | other structures supporting the object. |
30 | (9) "Tree" means any object of natural growth. |
31 | 1-3-4. Airport approach plans. |
32 | The airport corporation shall formulate, adopt, and revise, when necessary for planning, an |
33 | airport airspace plan for each publicly owned airport in the state. Each plan shall indicate the |
34 | circumstances under which structures and trees are, or would be, airport hazards; the area within |
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1 | which measures for the protection of the airport's navigable airspace, including aerial approaches, |
2 | should be taken; and what the height limits and other objectives of those measures should be. In |
3 | adopting or revising any airspace plan, the airport corporation shall consider, among other things, |
4 | the character of flying operations expected to be conducted at the airport; the traffic pattern and |
5 | regulations affecting flying operations at the airport; the nature of the terrain; the height of existing |
6 | structures and trees above the level of the airport; and the possibility of lowering or removing |
7 | existing obstructions. The airport corporation may obtain and consider the views of the agency of |
8 | the federal government charged with the fostering of civil aeronautics as to the aerial approaches |
9 | and other regulated airspace necessary to safe flying operations at the airport. |
10 | SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- AIRPORTS AND LANDING FIELDS | |
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1 | This act would add airspace to the land the department of transportation can acquire that is |
2 | necessary for a suitable airport or to preserve, maintain, or restore an approach. Additionally this |
3 | act would add the term “Approach, approach zone, approaches” to § 1-2-3.1. |
4 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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